Head of Britain's press watchdog to step down

Fri Jul 29 23:32:08 EST 2011

The head of Britain's Press Complaints Commission says she is leaving the job, after facing criticism over the regulator's role in the phone-hacking scandal.

"Baroness [Peta] Buscombe's three-year term of office comes to an end in the New Year. She has announced today her decision not to continue beyond that term to allow ample time for her successor to be found," the PCC said.

The commission manages complaints against the British press as part of a system of self-regulation. It is an independent body, but it is funded by the newspaper and magazine industry.

It has come under fire for failing to address the hacking crisis at the News of the World, which has embroiled in recent weeks other newspapers, the police and even prime minister David Cameron.

But Ms Buscombe, a 57-year-old former barrister and member of parliament's upper House of Lords for Mr Cameron's governing Conservative Party, has faced particular criticism.

In November 2009, she faced calls to quit after she questioned evidence given by a lawyer to members of parliament over hacking allegations.

Earlier this month, the PCC was also forced to withdraw a 2009 report which found "no new evidence" that the practice of voicemail hacking extended beyond the tabloid's royal editor and a private investigator who were jailed in 2007.

The police had come to a similar conclusion in 2009, but they were forced to reopen their investigations in January, as a flood of allegations revealed that thousands of people may have had their phones hacked.

Mr Cameron this month condemned the PCC as "ineffective and lacking in rigour", and he has asked a judge-led public inquiry into the hacking scandal to look at creating a new system of regulation for the press.

In her statement, Ms Buscombe said: "The public rightly demands stronger powers for dealing with the misconduct of the press. They must get them."

But she argued: "I am convinced the answer to ethical concerns about the press is not statutory intervention. What is needed is a greater sense of accountability among editors and proprietors. A PCC with increased powers and reach remains the best way of achieving that."